Eggless Spaghetti with Alfredo Sauce

You know how much I enjoyed making and rolling out pasta dough to make ravioli. For my vegetarian friends and family, I had to experiment an eggless pasta dough.

There comes the curious scientist in me :) Egg in the dough is protein that helps the flour to bind and holds the starch granules together when boiling. It also acts as a leavening agent, allowing the pasta to be soft and doubling in size. Substituting an egg is difficult, but not impossible. A liquid protein that we often use in making dough for Indian bread is milk or buttermilk, while baking soda would help as a leavening agent.  There it is, an experiment worth conducting. Keeping all other ingredients constant, I was off to try this out with a scrumptious conclusion.

Here is the recipe for eggless pasta dough for you to try it.

I used pasta semolina (the same one that I used for ravioli) to make the dough. You could try all purpose flour/maida or whole wheat flour too.

To 1 cup of flour, add 1/2 tsp. of baking soda. Mix it well.

Create a deep well to hold in the liquid. Add 1/4 cup of milk into the well and whisk it incorporating some flour from the sides till it becomes thick and messy. Add 3-4 tbsp of water to make a dough. Knead it by bringing the outer surface in till you develop a soft, uncrackable dough. Cover and let it rest for 20-25 minutes.

This was a trial to pull out some spaghetti strand using a traditional Indian sev gathiya /noodle maker. You will see below pictures of my successful experiment, and will end up making spaghetti soon.

Place the spinneret attachment at the base of the cylinder. Place soft, kneaded dough in the cylinder and tightly screw in the press.

OMG, I could see some strands protruding out of the cylinder! It worked for me!!

You could adjust the length of these noodles.

Dust the noodles and your counter to prevent the strands from sticking.

Pressing the dough to produce spaghetti wasn't easy. I had to ask Snehanshu to hold the cylinder, while I could press the noodles. It was indeed a fun time!

For creamy Alfredo sauce:
Heat 1/4 cup of butter. Saute 1 tsp. minced garlic for a minute or two.
Add 1 cup fresh whipping cream and a cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Allow the Parmesan cheese to melt. Add some salt and pepper and the sauce is ready. Do not heat or boil it much.

Bring a pot of water seasoned with salt to a boil.

Add in freshly made pasta and some olive oil and boil for anywhere from 4-8 minutes depending on the size and thickness of the dough.

This spaghetti took 7-8 minutes to cook. Finer pasta like Fettuccine or Linguine would take 3-4 minutes to cook.

Remove in a plate and pour fresh Alfredo, Marinara or Pesto or grilled veggies and enjoy!

Slurrrpppp.......Deliciously, fresh, eggless, homemade Spaghetti!!